DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



CATALOGUE 

OF THE 

STARK COLLECTION 

OF 

ANTIQUITIES AND 
CURIOSITIES 



OLD BLAKE HOUSE 

COLUMBIA ROAD 
DORCHESTER, MASS. 

Open Tuesdays and Saturdays, 2 to 5 P.M. 
JANUARY, 1907 



! 



DORCHESTER HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



OFFICERS, 1907 



'President, RICHARD C. HUMPHREYS 

Vice-President, JAMES H. STARK 



Secretary and Treasurer, JOHN A. FOWLE 



DIRECTORS 



EDW'D A. HUEBNER JAMES H. STARK 

EUGENE R. SHIPPEN EDW'D W. McGLENNAN 

JOHN A. FOWLE 



Girt 

The Society 



CABINET AND ARTICLES CONTAINED THEREIN 
PRESENTED TO THE DORCHESTER HISTOR- 
ICAL SOCIETY, BEING A COLLECTION OF 
ARTICLES COLLECTED BY JAMES H. STARK 
DURING HIS TRAVELS. 

1. Breastplate of Cromwell's time, from the Tower of Lon- 
don. 

2. Rose- jar made from calabash gourd, grown on tree 
planted by the poet Thomas Moore in Bermuda. 

3. Bead apron made and worn by Carib Indian woman, 
British Guiana. 

4. Wooden shoes from Holland. 

5. Club, a badge of authority, used by Carib Indian chief. 

6. Porcupine fish from Bahama Islands. 

7. Lace bark from Jamaica. 

8. Piece of rope used by Fenians in trying to haul down 
the Lion and Unicorn from the Old State House at the time 
of the Queen's Jubilee, 1887. 

9. Tesserae from Roman pavement, Pompeii. 

10. Piece of pottery found in the ashes which overwhelmed 
Pompeii. 

11. Charm worn by native African on board a slaver brought 
into Nassau, Bahama Island. 

12. Tomahawk found on Bushing's Island, Casco Bay. 

13. Spear head from Cotuit, Cape Cod. 

[3] 



14- Polished celt from Bahama Islands, remarkable from 
the fact that there is no native stone on those islands. Being 
of coral formation, this must have been brought more than 
1,000 miles by the Lucayan Indians, who were on the islands 
when they were discovered by Columbus, and were exter- 
minated within fifteen years after their discovery by the 
Spaniards. These implements are regarded with superstition 
by the negroes, and are now known as thunderbolts, and are 
supposed to keep harm away and to have fallen from the sky. 

15. Four Indian hoes from Barbadoes, used in the cultivation 
of manioc, made from the interior of the conch-shell. The 
Indians were exterminated by the Spaniards previous to 15 18. 

16. Clam-shell and a vertebra of an Indian found at Com- 
mercial Point, Dorchester, in excavation for the gas works. 
There were twelve Indian skeletons packed in clam-shells and 
seaweed. The seaweed was in a perfect state of preservation. 

17. Celt made from conch-shell by the Indians in Barbadoes. 

18. Collection of shells from Bahama Islands. 

19. Pestle found in Indian grave. Bushing's Island, Casco 
Bay. 

20. Three stone tomahawks found in cave in Bahama 
Islands. 

21. Stone relic from mound in the Squantum marshes. 

22. Flint arrowhead from Giant's Causeway, Ireland. 

23. Beautiful specmien of Indian arrowhead found at ''Pow- 
wow Point" between L and M Streets, near Eighth Street, 
South Boston, in 1868, by James H. Stark. 

24 and 25. Arrowheads from shell heap on coast of Maine. 

26. Quartz arrowhead from Mt. Vernon, Va. 

27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. Indian arrowheads from Cotuit, Cape 
Cod. 

[4] 



^^. Head of idol found in cave at Turks' Island. 

34, 35, ^6, 37, 38, 40. The whole household outfit of a Carib 
Indian family from British Guiana, bought of the Indians by 
James H. Stark. 

39. Decorated pottery from Turks' Island, found in cave. 

41. Carib Indian necklace made of peccaries' teeth from 
British Guiana. 

42. Heart of mainmast of British frigate "Charon," sunk 
by hot shot from the American batteries at Yorktov^n, Va., 
1781. 

Wreck was raised by Masbury, of Norfolk, in 188 1. Secured 
from the wreck by James H. Stark. 

43. The ashes solidified and covered with deposit of lime 
shows the impression of the keelson on the under side of the 
British frigate ''Charon." 

44. Portion of a rib of the British frigate ' ' Charon. " 

45. Piece of Roman glass from Virgil's tomb, Naples. 

46. A flint containing the impression of a starfish, picked up 
by the roadside from a heap of flints in Winchester, England. 

47. A fossil nut with the loose kernel inside, picked up on 
the banks of the Orinoco River. 

48 and 49. Slag from the first iron-works in America, Saugus, 

Mass. 

50. Tooth of alligator shot by Mr. Stark on St. John's River, 
Florida. 

51, 52, 53, 54. Minie-balls from the battlefield of Seven Pines, 
Va. 

55 and 56. Quartz arrowheads from the battlefield of Seven 
Pines, Va. 

57. Portion of column of Glastonbury Abbey, England, the 
oldest Christian edifice in England. 

[5] 



58. Specimen of slate stone underlying Dorchester. 

59. Portion of battlement of Spanish fort at St. Augustine, 
Fla. 

60. Fossil shark's tooth from phosphate, from Ashby River, 
South Carolina. 

61. Mud deposit turned into stone, found about the root of 
the mangrove, Indian River, Fla. 

62. From Osceola's cell, portion of iron window bar left in 
masonry opening, Spanish fortress, St. Augustine. 

63. Portion of arrowhead found at Fox Point, Savin Hill. 

64. Shell embedded in Bermuda limestone. 

65. Copper image from Egyptian tomb. 

66. A flint containing a crystallization found in Winchester, 
England. 

67. Tesserae and marble found at Herculaneum. 

68. Fossilized wood from the island of Antigua, West Indies. 

69. Piece of shell from battlefield of Fort Fisher. 

70. Portion of Spanish cannon-ball found in levelling the 
fortifications at St. Augustine, Fla. 

71. Fossil shells from Shepton Mallet, Somersetshire, Eng- 
land. 

72. Indian pestle found on Paddocks Island. 

73. Cannon-ball found at Savin Hill. 

74. A Confederate $10 bank-note plate found on a captured 
blockade runner brought into Boston. 

75. Fuse to a shell found on battlefield of Fort Fisher. 

76. 77, 78. Indian pestles and sinkers found by James H. 
Stark on Grape Island, Boston Harbor, 1878. 

79. Cofiin containing a corpse made of a bean, clothed in 

[6] 



grave clothes, a bottle containing dust from a grave, an iron 
nail from a coffin, a black and white ball, a button, and a coin. 
This outfit was used by an Obeah man in Barbadoes to ter- 
rify his victim, which usually produced death of same through 
terror. If that did not succeed, poison was used. This form 
of terrorism exists all through the British West Indies, in the 
French Island and New Orleans is known as Voodooism, 
from which our word "Hoodoo" is derived. This coffin was 
used in an Obeah case in Barbadoes, and was presented by 
Judge Messiah to J. H. S. 

80. Jaw bone found at Fort Fisher in a heap of human 
bones. 

81. Image made of $3,000 worth of macerated national 
greenbacks. 

82. Three Roman coins found in Gloucester, England. 

83. A piece of the rock of Gibraltar. 

84. 85. Stalactites from a cave in Bermuda. 

86. Stalagmite from a cave in Bermuda. 

87, 88. Coquina from Anastasia Island, off St. Augustine, 
Fla. 

89. Barnacle from Yorktown, Va., found 50 feet below the 
surface on the bank of the river. 

90. Specimen of granite from Jamaica. 

91. Shell rock from Yorktown, Va., 50 feet below the sur- 
face. 

92. A piece of crockery picked up from the ruins on site 
of Jones, McDuffee & Stratton store, 1872 great fire. 

93. 94. Shells found 50 feet below the surface at Yorktown. 

95. Knocker on the front door, from Barbadoes. 

96. Limpets from Bermuda. 

[7] 



97- Head-dress of Carib Indian, British Guiana. 

98. Fossil impress in limestone from Shepton Mallet, Som- 
ersetshire, England. 

99. Iron ore from Sheffield, Ala. 

100. Beadwork from the Bahama Islands. 

loi. Fossil mushrooms from Lyme Regis, England. 

102. Fossil shell mineralized from Lyme Regis, England. 

103. Volcanic dust from the Volcano on St. Vincent fell on 
Barbadoes, 90 miles distant. 

104. 105, 106. Fossil shells found in Hmestone quarry, Shep- 
ton Mallet, England. 

107. Fossil coral from Barbadoes. 

108. Fossil shell rock from Yorktown, Va. 

109. Lime deposit formed in the pipes of the Artificial Ice 
Company, Barbadoes. 

no. Fossil shell from limestone quarry, Shepton Mallet, 
England. 

Ill, 112. Fossil wood from the island Antigua, West Indies. 

113, 114, 115. The three component parts of granite, mica, 
feldspar, and quartz, all obtained from the same quarry from 
Wiscasset, Me. 

116, 117. Glance pitch from the Great Asphalt Lake, Ber- 
mudez, Venezuela. 

118, 119. Asphalt from Trinidad Pitch Lake, Trinidad, 
South America. 

120. Kaolin from Bartica, British Guiana. 

121, 122. Coins imbedded in lava from Vesuvius. 
123, 124, 125. Sea beans found on coast of Florida. 



[8] 



126, 127. Upper and lower part of a crab from Southern 
California. 

128, 129. Rare shells provided with natural hinge found in 
dredging the harbor of St. Lucia, B.W.I. 

130. Cow fish from Bermuda. 

131. Coral water-worn stones from Bermuda. 

132. Coral, rare formation, from Bermuda. 

133. Lime deposit from Shepton Mallet. 

134. Portion of a large fossil shell from Shepton Mallet. 

135. Mineral copper found at Bushing's Island, Me. 

136. Volcanic sand from island of Montserrat, B.W.I. 

137. Coral sands from Bermuda. 

138. Same, only finer, found on same beach as 137. 

139. From the beach of Monhegan, Me., composed of shells 
and fish bones, ground up. 

140. Coquina from Cape Canaveral, coast of Florida. 

141. Nautilus, portion of. 

142. Peculiar rock formation from South Shore, Massachu- 
setts Bay. 

143. Lignite from Shepton Mallet, England. 

144. Sea nut from coast of Florida. 

145. Trap rock from Falls of Montmorency, supposed to 
be the oldest rock formation in North America. 

146. Marble tesserse from Roman pavement found in 
Gloucester, England. 

147. 148. Boarding pikes said to have been used on the 
** Constitution." 

60. Fine specimens of blow gun from Demerara, British 
Guiana. 

[9] 



62. Bunch of poisoned arrows used in blow gun from De- 
merara, British Guiana. 

63. Remarkably fine specimen of Carib bow from Demerara, 
British Guiana. 

64. Arrows and spears used in catching fish in Demerara, 
British Guiana. 

65. Oar, war club, and machete, Demerara, British Guiana. 

66. Exploded 3-inch shell from Capron's Battery, El Caney, 
Cuba. 

67. Empty cartridge shells found in the Spanish trenches at 
San Juan Hill, Cuba. 

68. Cartridges from the arsenal at Santiago, Cuba. 

69. Electrotype autograph used for signing lottery tickets, 
found in the Government Printing-office at Porto Rico. 

70. "Creeper" used by the soldiers for walking on ice, 
found in the ruins of the fortress of Louisburg, Cape Breton. 



[10] 






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